Label Guide: Jewel

Jewel Records was an independent label, founded in 1963 by Stan Lewis and based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Lewis was a record shop owner and radio DJ in the 1950s before he started his own record label. Jewel was born with the help of Chess Records, as Leonard Chess was a personal friend of Stan Lewis.

Jewel Records had two separate lines of releases, a blues series and a gospel series. It also had two subsidiary labels, Paula Records founded in 1965 for popular music, and Ronn Records, set up in 1967 for jazz and R&B.

Jewel Records (Cincinnati) was an unrelated independent label, founded in 1965/66 by rockabilly and bluegrass artist Rusty York in Cincinnati, Ohio. York named the label for his Jewel Recording Studio, started in his Cincinnati garage in 1961. Jewel continued to operate out of Cincinnati throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and into the 21st century, until 2008 when York sold his studio and retired to Florida.